July 2014

July 19, 2014

US Airways mechanics and ground workers have approved a three-year contract with American Airlines.

The contract, which covers 11,000 workers represented by the International Association of Machinists, includes furlough protection and raises in each year of the contract. The IAM said Saturday that all three contracts for mechanics and related fleet service and maintenance training specialist work groups were approved by a majority of the members, but did not release vote totals.

The union was the only labor group at US Airways and American that did not publicly support the merger of the two airlines, which was completed in December. The Machinists said US Airways executives had negotiated deals with American’s labor groups while neglecting contract talks with their own employees.

American’s chief executive Doug Parker said he was pleased to reach agreements with the union employees.

“These agreements will allow us to focus on the next steps for integrating our airlines, and we can now start the process of bringing these employee groups together with their co-workers form American through joint collective bargaining agreements,” Parker said.

For fleet service workers, the tentative agreement also includes a signing bonus of $1,500. The mechanics’ contract includes 3 percent raises in each year of the contract and a merger seniority integration agreement.

The Transport Workers Union represents mechanics and ground workers from the pre-merger American. The Machinists and the TWU have previously agreed to jointly represent the workers after the merger. American has said it could take a couple of years to fully integrate the two airlines together.

If a new joint contract is not in place when the three-year agreement with the Machinists expires, workers will get additional raises.

July 17, 2014

With U.S. government officials saying that Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was brought down by a surface-to-air missile, U.S. airlines have been advised to not operate near the Ukraine-Russia border.

And that got me to thinking at Sky Talk on how many flights operated by U.S. carriers actually fly over Ukrainian airspace. I posed the question on Twitter and a few aviation followers helped out. (Thanks @FlightDXer and @chrisdopark)

The answer? Not many.

"American Airlines and US Airways don't serve Eastern Europe and none of our flights operate in Ukrainian airspace," the Fort Worth-based carrier said in a statement.

But two U.S. carriers do fly over parts of Eastern Europe.

United Airlines operates flight 48 from Newark to Bombay which skirts the eastern edge of Ukraine while flight 82 which operates between Newark and New Delhi typically stays in Russian airspace as it heads to the Indian subcontinent.

Delta Air Lines flight 446 goes from New York-JFK to Amsterdam and then on to Bombay. The flight path took it straight over Ukraine on Thursday, according to FlightAware.com

"Out of an abundance of caution, Delta Air Lines is not routing flights through Ukrainian airspace and is monitoring the situation involving Malaysia Airlines Flight 17," the airline said in a statement.

July 16, 2014

Leading Edge Aviation Services said it has made several upgrades recently to its Fort Worth facility at Meacham Airport.

The upgrades include air handling repairs, additional filter stages, new air supply lines and a new dedicated paint mixing room.

"As the company continues to grow, we remain committed to providing the highest quality aircraft painting services in the market," said president Chris Harano. "Over the last year, we have made considerable improvements at numerous locations to do just that."

The California-based firm also announced it has opened a second aircraft-painting hangar at the airport in Spokane. The $6 million hangar has one large painting bay that can handle aircraft up to the size of a Boeing 757-300.

Leading Edge helped American Airlines work on its new livery which debuted in January 2012. The firm painted more than 80 aircraft in 2013 for American and American Eagle with the new paint scheme. The company has also painted aircraft for United Airlines, Delta Airlines and Southwest Airlines.

July 15, 2014

A couple of years ago, Southwest Airlines announced its was renovating the interiors of its Boeing 737-700s with a new seat, called Evolve, replacing all of its old leather seats.

The Dallas-based carrier asked itself, "What do you do with thousands of old leather seats?"

The answer: send them to Kenya to be turned into shoes and soccer balls.

On Tuesday, Southwest announced a new recycling project where it will donate the used leather to a non-profit in Nairobi, Kenya to use the leather to produce goods, like shoes and soccer balls, to be then given to the local community.

The airline is also partnering with a non-profit in Malawi that will develop a leather works training program to teach school kids while generating proceeds for the school

"With the pilot of LUV Seat in Nairobi, Malawi, and the United States, we’re embarking on a new vision of social impact through training, job creation, and ultimately product donation," said Southwest's vice president of supply chain management, Bill Tiffany.

Southwest estimates it has 43 acres of leather from its old seats. With the redesign to the environmentally-friendly Evolve seat, the airline reduced the weight of each plan by more than 600 pounds.

July 14, 2014

-Frontier Airlines ramp workers voted to unionize and become members of the Transport Workers Union. According to the Denver Post, more than 60 percent of the 219 votes cast were in favor of representation. as ramp workers were concerned that the airline's new management team might decide to outsource their jobs.

-The New York Times looks at the lie-flat seats that airlines are adding to their cabins for transcontinental flights. The article quotes Airfarewatchdog.com founder George Hobica saying he has observed only a few fliers actually using the seats in their fully reclined position.

-With the 25th anniversary of the crash of United Airlines flight 232 in Sioux City, Iowa, the Des Moines Register recounts what happened on that flight when its tail engine exploded and shredded the aircraft's hydraulic lines. Of the 296 people onboard, 184 survived the crash landing at Sioux City's airport.

July 11, 2014

In the latest episode of Air, Land & Sea, I talk about my whirlwind 40 hours in Hong Kong and flying on American Airlines' inaugural flight from DFW to the Asian gateway city and Star-Telegram transportation reporter Gordon Dickson reports that Texans are texting and driving.

July 10, 2014

Gliding across a row of brand-new concrete ties, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit light-rail line zipped into Dallas/Fort Worth Airport at nearly 65 mph.

The train ride Wednesday morning was just a test run for the newest feature of DART’s elaborate light-rail system. But when DART’s Orange Line to DFW Airport, as the service is known, opens to the public Aug. 18, it will usher in a new era for the world’s fourth busiest airport — and the Metroplex at large.

In just a few weeks, it will be possible for visitors to fly into DFW, collect their bags and board a train for Dallas.

“We join the ranks of Atlanta as well as Chicago as the third airport that has rail service from the airport to its city center,” said Jim Crites, DFW Airport executive vice president for operations.

“We join the ranks of 17 global superhubs where international customers have direct rail service down to the city center.”

Eventually, travelers from downtown Fort Worth also could be able to take the train directly into the airport. The Fort Worth Transportation Authority, also known as the T, hopes to open its TEX Rail commuter line by 2018 — and that service will arrive at the airport at a station planned near Terminal B.

The T has completed its portion of an environmental study for TEX Rail and is competing with other metro areas for federal transit funding, spokeswoman Joan Hunter said.

On Wednesday, DART conducted a test run of the Orange Line to DFW and invited the media to go along. During the roughly 10-minute trip from Irving’s Belt Line Station, the train reached a top speed near 65 mph, whizzing past traffic on nearby Texas 114.

To read the full article that appeared in Thursday's Star-Telegram, click here.

July 09, 2014

Fewer flights reached their destination on time in May as U.S. carriers posted an on-time arrival rate of 76.9 percent, down from 79.4 percent in the same period last year.

Airlines also canceled 1.9 percent of their scheduled flights in May, an increase from the 1.1 percent cancellation rate in May 2013, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics report released on Wednesday.

Hawaiian Airlines had the best on-time arrival rate with 93.15 percent of its flights on time while ExpressJet had the worst rate with only 70.33 percent of its flights arriving on time.

Fort Worth-based American Airlines ranked 9th with an on-time rate of 76.78 percent while Dallas-based Southwest Airlines ranked 12th with an on-time rate of 71.82 percent. American's merger partner, US Airways ranked 5th with an on-time rate of 82.11 percent.

There were four flights that had tarmac delays over three hours, all operated by United Airlines, including two flights at Chicago O'Hare airport that were delayed on May 12 for over three hours each.

Airlines also lost more bags on its flights in May, posting a mishandled baggage rate of 3.34 reports per 1,000 passengers, up from 2.96 in May 2013.

The Department of Transportation also received 1,280 complaints about air service, a 31.3 percent increase from the same month last year.